Nagisa Momoe

Nagisa Momoe
Japanese Name	百江 なぎさ (Momoe Nagisa)
Voiced by	Japanese: Kana Asumi English: Xanthe Huynh Italian: Martina Felli

"I just wanted to eat cheese again!"
— Nagisa, Rebellion.

Nagisa Momoe is a supporting character from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She first appeared as the witch Charlotte, before being properly introduced in the sequel Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion.

General info

Physical features

• Age: 8 - 12 (estimated)
• Eye colour: Orange and yellow
• Hair colour: White

Other

• Japanese pronoun: Nagisa (なぎさ), watashi (私)
• Soul gem: The white candy on her belt
• Weapon: Trumpet horn
• Wish: "One single cheesecake which my mom will think it is the best."
• Witch form: Charlotte.
• Known relatives: A deceased mother and an absent father.
• School: Unknown.

Personality

Nagisa is usually rather childish, serving as the plucky and cheerful comic relief of the group, though she's shown to be more perceptive than she seems. She tends to speaks rather eloquently (e.g. "Let me explain that from my own lips", "We were once bringers of hope, who despaired and spread our curses").

As Bebe, she is even more childish, often jumping around, and panicking at the thought of turning into cheese.

From an interview with the character designer, Ume Aoki, regarding Nagisa: "At the beginning I was imagining her as the type to do things at her own pace, a little selfish, but once her speech patterns were determined I started to feel like all of that was part of her innocence and youth, and was able to draw her naturally."

Story

Backstory

Currently unknown. A section in Puella Magi Production Note suggests she may have a mother who died from an illness, but the section is technically for an unused prototype witch.

Nagisa in Madoka Magica

Nagisa technically appears in Episode 3 as the witch Charlotte.

Nagisa is presumed to have been taken into Law of Cycles by Madoka at the end of the anime.

Nagisa in Rebellion

Warning, this section contains spoilers about the movie.

Prior to the beginning of Rebellion, Madoka, Sayaka and Nagisa enter Homura's witch barrier from the Law of Cycles. In order to stop Kyubey's plan to observe and control the Law of Cycles, Madoka entrusted her memories and powers to both Nagisa and Sayaka so they could reawaken her to save Homura at the right time. Nagisa later explains that she took the mission because she wanted to eat cheese again. Once she enters Homura's barrier, Nagisa disguises herself as her witch form (which Kyubey would not recognize). The other characters call her Bebe. While disguised, she stays at Mami's house and helps the magical girls fight Nightmares. The memory altering effects of the barrier causes Mami to believe that Bebe is her oldest friend. Although her own memories are unaffected, Nagisa seems to reciprocate Mami's friendship. Eventually Homura begins to discover the truth of the false world and suspects Nagisa/Bebe as the culprit due to her appearance as Charlotte. Homura tries to interrogate Bebe, but is stopped by Mami. Bebe escapes as Mami and Homura fight each other. When the battle concludes, Sayaka helps Homura escape from Mami, and Nagisa returns to her human form. She apologizes to Mami for deceiving her and explains the truth to Mami. Nagisa reappears as Bebe once Homura transforms into Homulilly. She transforms back into her human form and uses her weapon, an explosive bubble-blowing trumpet, to create cracks in Homulilly's barrier. Ultimately, the magical girls hold off Homulilly and her familiars long enough to break through the barrier, revealing the isolation field that Homura's soul gem was trapped in. Madoka calls out to Homura's remaining humanity and together they destroy the isolation field from within, foiling the Incubators' plot. Once the barrier disappears, Ultimate Madoka descends from the sky along with a carriage containing both Sayaka and Nagisa. Madoka intends to take Homura into the Law of Cycles. However, Homura has been changed by her experiences in her barrier and thus grabs Madoka before she can take her soul gem. Homura then separates Madoka from the Law of Cycles and uses her new powers to rewrite reality. Nagisa is shown to be engulfed by the colors spilling out of Homura's soul gem and spreading to cover the universe. In Homura's new reality, Nagisa is unable to return to the Law of Cycles. She is seen happily running about in her civilian outfit, implying that Homura has erased her memories of being a magical girl. It is also suggested Homura has suppressed her magical girl and witch powers, effectively turning Nagisa back into an ordinary human. Eventually Nagisa meets up with a group of kids her own age and leaves with them. It is implied that they are all going to school together. At the end of the movie Mami saves Nagisa from falling packages of cheese, suggesting that they will become friends again in the new reality.

Nagisa in Magia Record

• See Nagisa Momoe in Magia Record

Observations

• Nagisa claims she came back as a secretary of Ultimate Madoka to eat cheese again. How true this is is currently unknown.
• She is said to have a child-like appearance.
• She is said to be very close to Mami.
• Her weapon is a trumpet styled like Charlotte, that can shoot bubbles powerful enough to put cracks in a witch's barrier.
• She seems to hate Kyubey, as she is seen snarling at him several times as Bebe.
• She can channel or change her form to and from Bebe (and by extension Charlotte's second form). She can also summon Charlotte's and other witches' familiars. The Pyotrs she summons don't do anything, but a Polina is seen helping Mami with her trapezes. This is because of special powers granted to her as a secretary of Ultimate Madoka, as well as being a part of the Law of Cycles.
  • She rides on a Sebastian during the battle with Homulilly.
• Her magical girl design is near-identical to an initially-proposed beta outfit for Yuma.
• Nagisa's last name is almost identical to Mami's last name, Tomoe. The only difference is the first syllable.
• In many languages, "bebe" means "baby". This fits with Mami's name, which is pronounced similar to "mommy".

Etymology

• Nagisa's given name is written in hiragana and has no particular meaning.
  • It can mean "beach" or "water's edge" when written in kanji (渚 or (汀). The "-sa" part can mean "sand" (沙) or (砂).
• The first character for Momoe (百) means "hundred", but also carries the connotation of "a lot of things". The second character (江) means "inlet" or "bay". "Momoe" could be translated as "a hundred rivers".

Trivia

• Unlike the other magical girls in Madoka Magica, Nagisa's hair, eyes and soul gem are not all the same colour.
  • Nagisa's eye color pattern is possibly a form of heterochromia, a cosmetic disease that causes ones eyes to be multiple colors, called Central Heterochromia. Traditional heterochromia is usually seen in individuals whose each eye is a different color, however Nagisa's variation is an alternate that causes the eyes to change color near the iris of the eye. Most likely, though, it is just a reference to Charlotte's second form.
• Nagisa is voiced by Kana Asumi, who played Yuno in Hidamari Sketch. According to an interview, Madoka Kaname is based on Yuno.
• Nagisa's transformation starts with her saying "Parmigiano Reggiano!", a sort of cheese also known as Parmesan.
• According to the Rebellion production note, Nagisa's magic is a horn that is supposed to make her more self-assertive and greedy because she regrets wishing for just a single cheesecake.
• Nagisa's name is never mentioned in the actual movie.
• Bebe is likely a play on the word "baby", in krder to match Mami, whose name is a play on the word "mommy".

Gallery

Official art

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  Nagisa's and Bebe's designs

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  First full official visual of Nagisa as a magical girl

• 1381238992622.jpg
• Ume Aoki Rebellion Pics.jpg

  By Ume Aoki

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  Nagisa's soul gem in it's transformed state.

• Nagisa Billboard.jpg
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  By Kana Asumi, Nagisa's voice actor.

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  Nagisa in the new world

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  Ume's original design of Nagisa.

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  Nagisa, transparent

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  Ichiban Kuji Puella Magi Magiccraft visual board

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• Nagisa memoria art.jpg

Screenshots

• Meet nagisa.gif
• NagisaMovieScreencap1.jpg
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  Mami saves Nagisa from falling packages of cheese.

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External links

• Nagisa Momoe at Pixiv image repository (Japanese)
• Nagisa Momoe at Danbooru image repository (NSFW)